Public Prayer

On these Sunday nights in September and October we are considering the five ways in which God has asked us to worship him. First we looked at the general concept of worship. As we saw in John 4:24, it is to be in spirit and in truth, and it is to be directed to God. Two weeks ago we looked at the Lord’s Supper, and we examined Matthew 26 and I Corinthians 11. Last Sunday evening we looked at the subject of giving as an act of worship. We examined II Chronicles 31 and the example of what took place there in the days of King Hezekiah. So certainly as we go through these five acts of worship, we want to take people back to the Bible.

There is an emphasis today in the field of religion to try to please people to keep them entertained when they go to church. Therefore we read about organ recitals. We read about churches that have skits and plays during worship. We read about choreographed services with robes and candles and processions and pomp and circumstance. This past week I read an article about why we need a handbell choir. The article was in a denominational magazine, and it said if you just start a handbell choir at your church that you will attract new members. But we have to ask the question, "Did God asked to be worshiped with handbells?"

Somebody might say that this is new. This is something that will attract people. Just because something is new does not necessarily mean that it is right. Many times today we read about some new product and it says that it is the "new and improved" version. And we find out later that it is new, but it is not improved. Many times the newer version is worse than the original version.

And so we are trying to call people back to the Bible and ask from the Scriptures, how does God want to be worshiped? It is an awesome thing to be asked to direct a worship service of the Lord’s people. There is certainly a lot of nervousness on the part of men who are asked to lead in worship. Some of that nervousness comes just from speaking in front of other people. But I think some of it comes from understanding the responsibility that we have in leading the minds of other people as we worship God together.

This evening let us consider a fourth act of worship, and that is public prayer. Throughout the Bible we have examples of prayers that were led for public worship services. I Kings 8, for example. King Solomon led the entire nation of Israel in a prayer for the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. In I Kings 18, Elijah led a public prayer as he called down fire from Heaven and help from God to defeat the prophets of Baal. In Acts 1:14, we read how the disciples met and they prayed that they might have guidance concerning a replacement for the apostle Judas, who had committed suicide. In Acts 2:42, we read that the Christians in Jerusalem were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. In Acts 12:12, we read that the church met to pray for the Apostle Peter, who had been put in prison. In I Timothy 2, we read where Paul gave Timothy some advice on how public prayers ought to be ordered.

This evening let us consider a passage here in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus went over some basic principles of prayer. He was actually talking about private prayer here, but there are some principles that I think we can apply to public praying. I’d like to ask you to turn with me to Matthew 6:1–8.

Let’s look at verse 5 at the opening statement for the first principle about prayer. Notice that our Lord said when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites. We learn from it that when we are praying to God, especially in front of a congregation of our brothers and sisters, we are to be authentic people. We are not to be hypocrites. In other words, the person leading a public prayer is to live the kind of life that he talks about in his prayers.

There is a parallel passage to what we read here in Matthew 6 over in Mark 12, where Jesus was condemning the Scribes concerning how they led prayers in public. Jesus said that they devour widows’ houses, and for appearances sake, offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation. Can you imagine someone standing in front of God’s people and leading what appears to be a sincere prayer; but as he is praying on behalf of God’s people, in his mind, he is planning how to steal houses from the widows? This is what the Scribes were doing. They were constantly thinking of ways to steal money from the widows as they supposedly led these sincere prayers in public.

Our Lord, therefore, is pointing out that when we select someone to lead a public prayer, that person had better be sincere. He had better be living a life of righteousness. James said in James 5:16, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." What is the converse of that? The converse of James 5:16 would be that the prayer of an unrighteous man can accomplish little.

If someone stands before the congregation and prays for the sick in the congregation, the question would be, "Does he ever go to visit the sick?"

If he prays for the elders, the question would be, "Does he respect the elders?" If he prays for the congregation, does he truly love the congregation or is he secretly trying to subvert that congregation and lead it astray? In other words, does he live the way that he actually prays?

I can think about a man that I knew when growing up. On Sunday morning, when he was asked to lead a prayer, he would always end it by saying, "Lord, please bring us back at the next appointed time." We would not see him until the next Sunday morning. I would charge him with being insincere. I would charge him with being a hypocrite. So the first part of verse 5, the Lord is saying that if we are selected to lead a prayer in public on behalf of the congregation, let us make sure that we are sincere and authentic Christians, and not hypocrites.

Notice please the second half of verse 5. Again, there is a direct application here to public prayers. Matthew 6:5, the second half, says, "For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." The second principle is that if we are asked to lead a public prayer, let us do all we can not to draw attention to ourselves. We have been chosen to lead a prayer on behalf of the congregation. Most of us, including myself, have heard men stand up and pray, "Well, I am thankful for my blessings at this time." Really, it should be, "We are thankful for our blessings at this time."

There are those occasions when men will lead public prayer, and they will begin talking about their own problems and what they need and what needs to be done in their lives. It’s almost as if they are saying, "Now pardon me, congregation, but my life is more important than your lives. Therefore, you are just going to have to endure this for the next few minutes." What the Lord is saying is that if we are asked to lead a public prayer, then every word should be on behalf of the congregation and not something that will glorify ourselves, as the Scribes and Pharisees were doing with their prayers.

If we do not pray for ourselves, what should be pray for? We are told to pray for sick members of the congregation. We can pray for weaker members of the church who might be falling away. We are to pray for the unity of the congregation. We are to pray that we will be strong enough to resist false teachers in our day. We are told in II Timothy 2 that we are to pray for the government leaders. We may not necessarily agree with what the government leaders are doing, but the Bible doesn’t say to pray for them if you agree with them. It says pray for those who are in charge of your government that we might live peaceful and quiet lives. We are to pray, therefore, for the President, for our Senators, for our Representatives and for our other government leaders.

We are to pray for the elders and the deacons ,and certainly the preacher always appreciates someone praying on his behalf. We are to pray for our Bible classes and for the mission works that we support. Our Lord told us in Matthew 9:36-38 that specifically we are to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send us workers to reap the harvest that is going on around us.

So in our public prayers, we are to pray speaking on behalf of the entire congregation. We are to praise God, to praise His Son, to give thanks for the plan of salvation. I believe that most members of the Church appreciate a well-worded prayer that expresses what they are thinking about during worship.

In verse 6 the Lord has something to say about private prayers. Let’s go on to verse 7 for another principle for all praying, including in public. Notice the Lord says that we are not to use repetitious phrases, and we are not to have many words, just for the sake of leading long prayers. He says when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition like the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. There are many groups around us today that use repetitious phrases. Some of our religious friends take the so-called Hail Mary and they start reciting it, again and again and again --maybe dozens of times they recite the Hail Mary. The Lord here says do not use meaningless repetition.

Buddhists have a very strange practice of writing out a prayer on a piece of paper and sticking it on what they call a prayer wheel, which the wind blows in some cases. They stick this on there and supposedly every time it makes a rotation, then it offers that prayer. So they put it out in the wind and here’s the little wheel going around and around, and Jesus said it is worthless. It doesn’t count. Do not use meaningless repetitions.

It is interesting that right after this passage, beginning in verse 9, we have a sample prayer. The disciples asked Jesus to give them a sample. What would be the wording of a good prayer that would be acceptable to God? So we have a sample prayer, and what do people do to it? They have turned it into a meaningless repetition! Every time there is some crisis in their life, they recite what they call the Lord’s prayer. And they will do it over and over. In many denominational churches today, it is a regular part of worship for everybody to be asked to cite the Lord’s prayer. It is incredible! Right in verse 7 it says not to use meaningless repetition and then in verse 9 the sample prayer begins, and people violate exactly what the Lord says not to do in verse 7.

Notice something else interesting in verse 7, and that is that we are not to be heard for our many words. Public prayers do not have to be long, do they? I suppose most of us have had the experience of somebody who preached a sermon in a prayer. Some prayers go on 15 or 20 minutes in some congregations. What can men do to keep from rambling on and on in prayers? I think the best solution is to prepare in advance what we are going to say. That means to write it out. Write the prayer out and either use notes or just memorize the prayer. At this congregation the worship schedule is prepared a month in advance so that all of the men know when they are going to be called upon to lead a public prayer.

Somebody might say, "You mean you should really write out a prayer?" For a moment, think about the other four acts of worship. Wouldn’t we be horrified at a preacher who had no preparation whatsoever and just stood up and tried to think of something to say for 30 minutes? Can you imagine how awful that would be? We expect the lesson to be prepared in advance. We expect notes, we expect an outline that is to be prepared. When it comes to that act of worship, we would be shocked if someone waited until he stood up to try to think of what he is going to say.

Imagine the song service, another one of the acts of worship. Imagine the song leader who stands up before the congregation and lets the book fall open and wherever the book falls open, then that’s his first song. After singing the first song, he lets the songbook fall open again and that’s the second song. And it is obvious that he has made no preparation at all for the song service. We would be appalled!

What about our giving, the third act of worship? Remember the passage over there in I Corinthians 16:1-2? It says we are to "purpose in our hearts what we are to give." It is never a case where we come to church and whatever is left in the billfold is what we put in that morning. Paul said we are to purpose: we are to plan in advance what we are to give on each first day of the week.

What about the Lord’s Supper? We expect preparation. When the men meet back in the office here before the Sunday morning worship, we go over who’s going to do what. Maybe the one who is in charge of the bread has a few thoughts to tell the visitors what is going on at this point. We expect some kind of preparation there. Certainly the men are prepared as to who is going to do what and they are not running into each other and crawling over each other getting to the various parts of the auditorium. Beloved, listen please. If we expect preparation in the other four acts of worship, shouldn’t we also expect preparation when it comes to leading a prayer in public?

This would go a long way toward ending the prayers that just go on relentlessly. The man needs to know what he is going to say. When we understand that we are praying to the Creator of the Universe, then speaking extemporaneously is not going to do it. Speaking ad-lib is not going to do it. Suppose that we found out that a week from tomorrow, we were going to be allowed to spend 15 minutes with the President of the United States and talk to him about anything that we would like to talk to him about. For 15 minutes in a private conversation, we would plan carefully, would we not? We would want to go over exactly what we would be waiting to tell that man. We would have it planned out with the questions and the comments. If we would do that with the President, shouldn’t we also do that in talking to God on behalf of the congregation?

What the Lord is saying therefore at this point is that prayers are not acceptable because they are long. Certainly private prayers can be as long as we want them to be. Jesus prayed all night before his crucifixion. And yet in public, He is saying here that our prayers should be well thought out and not judged on their length.

It is interesting if you will look at what’s called the Lord’s prayer, verses 9-13, that it is five verses long. Five verses long is all there is to it, and that was the Lord’s example of how we ought to pray to the Father. What we find in the opening verses of Matthew 6 is that we are to praise God. It is to be delivered by a righteous person, not one to draw attention to himself. He is to get to the point. He is to think about his wording in advance and not use meaningless repetitions and not obviously trying to extend the prayer just for the sake of making it long.

I know that all of the men at this congregation consider it a great honor to be asked to lead a prayer here and to speak on behalf of this congregation. It is a wonderful thing to be a part of an assembly such as this and hear a man who gives a prayer that is well thought out. It is good to hear him say things that we are thinking about and worried about, and we would like to have mentioned to the Father. Those are the words of the Lord on this fourth act of worship.

There may be some here this evening who need to obey the Gospel or if there is something wrong in your life and you would like the elders to pray about in a public way, then we would urge you to get it straightened out this evening. We have no guarantee that we will ever live to see the sun come up tomorrow morning. If you are subject to the Lord’s invitation, then come forward while we sing the next song.

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Updated 01/02/03